Software quality assurance – or SQA – consists of the entire software development process, including requirements definition, software design, coding, source code control, code reviews, configuration management, testing and release management. It also embraces the monitoring of software engineering processes, as well as the methods used to ensure quality.

Some typical jobs requiring experience are for a software quality engineer at Adecco USA in San Jose, senior software engineer at DemandTec in San Mateo, systems performance engineer at Talogix in Sunnyvale, QA with Perl experience at Sacc in Palo Alto, and IT SAP business analyst quality at IMPAX Labs in Hayward.

Symantec Searches for Software Engineers

One company looking for software quality engineers is also searching for IT professionals in general. Symantec, in Mountain View, has openings for a senior software quality assurance engineer for user authentication products, a principal quality assurance engineer, and a senior systems engineer and senior manager of IT.

Other openings include a Linux software developer in Mountain View, a senior software engineer for network automation in San Francisco, and an enterprise support services appliance program manager in Mountain View.

A leader in software security, Symantec wants people who have more than a few heavy dollops of experience. The principal software engineer in its user authentication business requires eight to 10 years of work with object-oriented design and programming, three years of user interface development experience, and five-plus years of Java/J2EE knowledge. The job requires “the ability to use seasoned judgment to suggest approaches that optimize among customer needs, business constraints, and technological realities.” In other words, beginners need not apply.

Follow the Yellow-Brick Venture Capital Trail

It’s no secret that when companies expand rapidly, they need people. So, venture capital-funded startups often are fertile job-hunting grounds.

One Silicon Valley startup that landed serious VC funding last month is Box.net, a Palo Alto company that offers online data storage lockers for individuals and corporations. Box.net received $48 million in funding, bringing its total funding to about $80 million. At year-end 2010, the company had 5 million users. Regarding hiring, CEO Aaron Levie predicts the company will double its current staff of 140 employees within the next 18 months.